minimum ram for Windows 7?

[mcveigh]

I know ram is cheap and most people throw 4gb in a box without thinking.
But I haven't read any reviews saying how much ram you should have for windows7.
I can't find the search function on the new forums to research first.

Is 2GB enough? is there a large performance increase going to 4GB or higher?
Does anyone know if a sweet spot for ram exists?

My 2 reasons for this are for my HTPC currently running vista and my step-fater wants me to build him a new pc around the holidays (currently running Windows 2000).

thanks!

 

[CKTurbo128]

Windows 7 has a lighter memory footprint in comparison to Vista, as Windows 7 can run okay on PCs equipped with 1 GB of RAM. 2 GB would be ideal, as it would be enough for most typical purposes, such as HTPC duties.

 

[Blain]

"If you want to run Windows 7 on your PC, here's what it takes:

1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)"

 

[ChaiBabbaChai]

Blain is correct according to the system requirements printed on the box.

 

[mcveigh]

Blain is correct according to the system requirements printed on the box.

umm.... this is the same company that lists 64MB of ram as the minimum for XP.
I want to know if 2 or 4 or 12GB is enough.

 

[pukemon]

I have 2GB of RAM in one of my notebooks running Windows 7 Home Premium and it runs without any issue or any noticeable slowdown. That's the max I can install though.

 

[mmntech]

Vista runs fine with 2gb on my laptop. Windows 7 has a smaller footprint so it should be perfectly alright.

Today, I'd say...

1gb for XP Netbooks

2gb for general use (office, surfing, audio editing, media, etc)/light gaming with older and casual titles

4gb for moderate technical work (heavy photoshop, transcoding)/moderate gaming

4gb+ for heavy gaming and technical

 

[BW86]

I'm running 2gb with the 32bit and its been great.

 

[sonoma1993]

my 4 year old dell laptop is running Window 7 pretty good with 2GB of ram. When i had Windows Vista on it, it ran pretty good to with the 2GB of ram.

 

[Paperlantern]

I have 4ish year old Dell Workstation Precision 380 with 2GB of RAM that absolutely screams with Win7. I have a 4 - 5 year old Dell Inspiron 9100 with 1.25GB of RAM that also flies with Win7. However I have also installed Win7 on a 8 Year old Gateway laptop that had 512 RAM and it worked well too. Win7 can be scaled back quite a bit in terms of visual effects and such to make it work on less RAM and Video horsepower. The Windows 7 Installation requires a bare minimum of 512MB of RAM to install and run. So to answer the original question of, is 2GB enough. Yes, it most CERTAINLY is... by FAR. The real question of do you have enough RAM lies in what you will be doing with the machine.

 

[JackMDS]

Win 7 can run on 512MB but it slows down.

It runs OK with 1GB, and optimally with 2GB.

If you use or intent to use a Virtual PC, or and the Virtual XP Mode, you need more RAM depending on how many Victuals you are running.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

net books are shipping with windows 7 and 1 gb ram.

 

[Meghan54]

umm.... this is the same company that lists 64MB of ram as the minimum for XP.
I want to know if 2 or 4 or 12GB is enough.

And your point is? Because XP Home will run on 64MB of RAM, just at basic functionality (XP Pro needed a minimum of 128MB).....and that's exactly what MS stated in 2001 when it released those specs.


As for the rest, quit trying to be a contrarian kid.....12GB enough. That's a laugh. It's been reported, tested, and shown that 1GB of RAM will indeed run Win 7 32-bit. Maybe not effortlessly, but it will run.

Just threw together a $250 machine for my Dad.....Intel E6300 cpu, 2GB RAM, 500GB hd.....and it's running Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit without a hitch.

If you really have any questions, here's a way to assure yourself that it does work with as little as 1GB/2GB of memory.....go down to a Best Buy/OM/OD/etc., and play with a few machines with Win 7 and the amount of RAM you're looking for, like 2GB. You'll be surprised how well it runs on that.

 

[JackMDS]

I think that one of the Difficulties that enthusiasts have is a Psychological (and some what childish) Idea that what ever they do every body else does or should do.

My main dealing in real live (as oppose to Forums) is with normal people that use computers in the same way that they use Buses, Restaurants, Department stores etc.

I.e. they have No interest in the things per-se but in what they can provide.

I have a car. I am Not a car enthusiast and I do not know how much Horse Power my car has. It just takes relaiblt to places and I am happy with it.

I am not expecting that the car manufacturer would tell me how to turn my car to a Hot Rod or try to enroll it into the Indy 500. .

I come across people that use every day computers and when asked what version of Windows they are using do not know what to say.

I come across people that I have to slow down thier Browsing because if it is too fast they can follow what is going on and are not even evaware that the screen is changed.

Most people do not use thei computer to view movies (they have TVs for it).

For these people normal hardware works.

NetBooks come with Win XP or Win starter both do well with 512MB RAM and very well with 1GB RAM.

If you want to turn your Netbook to something else that it was not intent to, Yeah you would need more RAM.

 

[JackMDS]

I think that one of the Difficulties that enthusiasts have is a Psychological (and some what childish) Idea that what ever they do every body else does or should do.

My main dealing in real live (as oppose to Forums) is with normal people that use computers in the same way that they use Buses, Restaurants, Department stores etc.

I.e. they have No interest in the things per-se but in what they can provide.

I have a car. I am Not a car enthusiast and I do not know how much Horse Power my car has. It just takes relaiblt to places and I am happy with it.

I am not expecting that the car manufacturer would tell me how to turn my car to a Hot Rod or try to enroll it into the Indy 500. .

I come across people that use every day computers and when asked what version of Windows they are using do not know what to say.

I come across people that I have to slow down thier Browsing because if it is too fast they can follow what is going on and are not even evaware that the screen is changed.

Most people do not use thei computer to view movies (they have TVs for it).

For these people normal hardware works.

NetBooks come with Win XP or Win starter both do well with 512MB RAM and very well with 1GB RAM.

If you want to turn your Netbook to something else that it was not intent to, Yeah you would need more RAM.

 

[Blain]

Jack,
Yours is "the voice of one crying in the wilderness".
They have ears, but they hear not.

 

[JackMDS]

Jack,

They have ears, but they hear not.

Your are Right.

On the other hand if no body hears, then it does Not matter if I am in the Wilderness.

 

[betasub]

Amen brother.

BTW, what happened to Blain's "Elite" forum status? Gone with the forum upgrade?

 

[JackMDS]

Amen brother.

BTW, what happened to Blain's "Elite" forum status? Gone with the forum upgrade?

The Elite status was part of FT, there is no default setting in vB for it.

The special titles would need a manual Admin updates to the users that earned them.

It would take sometime to update all of them.

 

[mcveigh]

thanks everyone!

 

[crisscross]

Slightly OT, but I have 2.5GB RAM on an opteron 165. Should i run Win 7 64 bit or 32?

 

[firewolfsm]

I DISAGREE

I hope that got your attention. I have a laptop, not a netbook, a laptop with a Core 2 at 2.2GHz and with 6MB of cache, it's quite fast. I have Windows 7 beta and only 1GB of ram. I'm a power user, I guess you could use those terms, but I game on my desktop and have a quad with 4GB of ram and have found the laptop to be adequate for internet and movies.